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Galheim
Galheim was once one of the most critical cities in Arnor, as it sits in the center of the Arnor region and is the closest settlement to the opening of the Arnor mountains which are the only feasable means of trading in large quantities with the southern regions. Built between two mountains with a wide gap between the two which is connected by a massive bridge which connects the two towns into one town. The loss of this city to The Empire is something that Arnor has never been able to recover from, and has forced the splitting of Arnor into a western and eastern section. Galheim stood as the center of trade for Arnor for generations, and during the conflicts of Arnor the city itself remained rather unnafected due to how far back from the front lines it was. This changed during the Arnor War when the Empire tricked the forces of Arnor into believing a ceasefire was in place, and with this they rushed Galheim and were able to overwhelm the city before reinforcements could arrive. With its capture it now stands as a city of The Empire and has caused serious problems for the Kingdom of Arnor. As a member of The Empire it has grown into a more cosmopolitan city and a center of the growing Teutonic population alongside the growing Sigmar religion. History Early History Sections of Galheim Hightown Everyone who is anyone in Galheim lives in Hightown, and they give little thought to what goes on in Lowtown other than to complain when the wind drags up the stench from its foundries or ancient mines. People in Hightown feel safe, not because the city's walls are impregnable, but because an invader would need to scale the stairs from Lowtown in order to reach them. Many bloody battles have been fought on those narrow stairs, and in several wars Hightown has held out for months after Lowtown was taken. The wealthy often forget, however, that those stairs are also their only escape. Although Hightown is a tranquil section of Galheim during the day, many gang operations surface during night time: Hightown is a center for many criminal factions. Varric tells Hawke to "keep a hand" on their purse, because there is more crime in Hightown than "the rest of the city combined". Lowtown A ship that sails past the twin statues and through the narrow corridor enters a cauldron-shaped area of Galheim called Lowtown. Once this was the first quarry, where slaves carved out the harbor and their own living quarters from the rock-face before new quarries needed to be created in the Vimmark Mountains just beyond the city. Lowtown is literally a pit where the slaves were once quartered in dwarven-engineered courtyards: "hexes" in the local common parlance. The hexes in Lowtown are plainly built and bear the unrepaired scars of damage caused by collapsing walls. This is also where one may find Galheim's alienage, elves who have secluded themselves into one of the largest hexes-with a great iron gate that the City Guard will close up at night. For their safety, of course. In the alienage one finds the massive, gnarled tree that the elves call the "vhenadahl", and possibly the only greenery in the entire district. Some consider it odd that the poorest part of Lowtown should also be its most colorful and most lively. The elves, at least, comfort themselves with the thought that as poor off as they are they are still not the worst in Galheim. That honor belongs to those who have descended into Darktown, the nickname given to the truly desperate who have taken refuge in the city's sewer tunnels. A newcomer to the city will find Lowtown a vast maze of shantytowns and labyrinthine corridors, all clustered around the busy man-made harbor. Clearly visible in the center of that harbor is the tall fortress once known as the Gallows. There the slave ships were received and their slaves processed and sold; it was a brutal prison, reserved for anyone that dared to challenge the authority of the Imperial magisters. It was a symbol of oppression and was burned after the rebellion but never destroyed, and today the Chantry has converted it into a massive barracks for the Cult of Sigmar and a home to their priests. The priests live in the cells once reserved for slaves, and the irony is not lost upon them. The rocky walls surrounding Lowtown are highest beyond the harbor, with the busiest streets lead directly up to Hightown where the wealthiest citizens in Galheim perch high over the rest. The stairs to Hightown climb for hundreds of feet, and have spawned an entire economy of porters to haul goods up and down, not to mention dwarven contraptions that bring baskets directly and quickly up the cliff-face for a fee. When someone stands in Lowtown, the rocky walls of the pit around them are all they're really going to be able to see (if they can see anything past the crowded buildings) – and Hightown glitters high overhead, the Chantry always in sight yet always beyond reach. Darktown An area of Galheim that is derelict and destitute, Darktown is a den of inequity, where only the most pitiable souls dwell. They say it is only a step up from the Elven Alienage, but at least the Alienage isn't polluted with chokedamp that covers the streets in a toxic fog. Built in the underground and sewers of Galheim, many refugees fled into Darktown in desperation, after finding the gates of Galheim firmly shut due to the overflow of refugees fleeing the Ferelden Blight. Darktown is a hive of crime, with many criminal bases there. This is due to the non-existence of guards in the sewers, due to either Darktown being an unrecognised district, or purely because it is considered a lost cause. Disease is also widespread in Darktown, and its afflicted denizens either depend on the kindness of learned strangers to heal them, or simply wait as the disease spreads, lacking the funds to buy medicine. Gallows See Also : Gallows The Gallows is an area of Galheim that was completed after the takeover of the town by The Empire. Statues of tortured slaves fill the Gallows courtyard, a ghastly memento of Kirkwall's history. The statues are not monuments to the suffering of slaves. Every inch and angle of the courtyard was designed by magisters bent on breaking the spirit of newcomers. Executions here took place daily, sometimes hourly, and corpses were hung from gibbets throughout the yard. New slaves trudging in from the docks saw what awaited them. The Chantry Category:City in The Empire Category:Former city of Arnor Category:City in Europe